Here's the One Place in L.A. Where Women Make More Cash Than Men

Women in the United States earn about 80 percent of what men do when median income is considered, according to the American Association of University Women.

But there's one place in California where women make more than men. And you probably live there. In an effort to get Capital Hill to take action, the association has ranked each state's congressional district by the size of its gender pay gap. The higher the ranking, the lower the gap.

No. 1 in the Golden State is the 37th district represented by Democratic Rep. Karen Bass. It's the only place in California where, if you're a woman, you'll make more than most men, according to the report on median pay data. The district includes Culver City, Mid-City, Mar Vista, West L.A., South L.A., Mid-City and part of Koreatown.

In the 37th, women make 100.3 percent of what men make, according to the analysis. To get close to that kind of ratio you'd have to work in the 49th district of Republican Rep. Darrell Issa. It's a relatively wealthy area that includes San Diego's North County coast along with parts of South Orange County.

Across the state, California women earn about 86 percent of what men do, the association says. That ranks us seventh among states with the smallest pay gaps. New York (89 percent) is tops, followed by Delaware (89 percent, but with lower wages than you get in New York), Florida (87 percent), Washington, D.C. (86 percent), and North Carolina (86 percent, but with lower wages than in D.C.), respectively.

In California, the median male income is said to be $50,5632, while a woman's is $43,335. The worst congressional district in the state when it comes to the gender pay gap is the 18th, represented by Democratic Rep. Anna G. Eshoo. It includes parts of Silicon Valley. The association says while men make a relatively high median of $111,831, women can expect $71,181, or 63.7 of male income.

The second worst district is the 17th, which is represented by Democrat Mike Honda, whose website hits you immediately with the message, "Fighting for the rights of all women." He claims to represent "the heart of Silicon Valley," so Honda's district has similar issues: A $90,326 median for men, a $61,853 median for women, and a gap that means women make 68.5 percent of male pay.

The third worst district for the gender pay gap in California belongs to Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu, whose South Bay turf also includes much of the L.A. County coast, from Malibu to Rancho Palos Verdes, as well as some of the Westside. Women make about 72.8 percent of what men do there, the association found. The men's median is $91,707; the women's is $66,718.

Earlier this summer Bass, the woman representing the state's best district for female income, supported legislation called the Paycheck Fairness Act. It would, she says, "help ensure that women actually receive equal pay for equal work in the workplace."

The American Association of University Women data foreshadows the Thursday release of a new report detailing the socioeconomic background, education, occupation, race and geography behind America's pay gap.

Rep. Karen Bass' district

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Dennis Romero has worked on staff at several magazines and newspapers, including the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Los Angeles Times, where he participated in Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the L.A. riots. His work has appeared in Rolling Stone online, the Guardian, and, as a
young stringer, the New York Times.